OLD ENGLISH SPORTS
Pastimes and Customs
by
P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A.
Fellow of the Royal Historical Society; Rector of Barkham, Berks
Hon. Sec. of Berks Archæological Society, etc.
First published by Methuen & Co., 1891
TO
LADY RUSSEL
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED WITH THE AUTHOR'S
KINDEST REGARDS.
PREFACE.
Encouraged by the kind reception which his former book, _Our English
Villages_, met with at the hands of both critics and the public, the
author has ventured to reproduce in book-form another series of
articles which have appeared during the past year in the pages of
_The Parish Magazine_. He desires to express his thanks to Canon
Erskine Clarke for kindly permitting him to reprint the articles,
which have been expanded and in part rewritten. The Sports and
Pastimes of England have had many chroniclers, both ancient and
modern, amongst whom may be mentioned Strutt, Brand, Hone, Stow, and
several others, to whose works the writer is indebted for much
valuable information.
The object of this book is to describe, in simple language, the
holiday festivals as they occurred in each month of the year; and
the sports, games, pastimes, and customs associated with these rural
feasts. It is hoped that such a description may not be without
interest to our English villagers, and perhaps to others who love
the study of the past. Possibly it may help forward the revival of
the best features of old village life, and the restoration of some
of those pleasing customs which Time has deprived us of. The writer
is much indebted to Mr. E.R.R. Bindon for his very careful revision
of the proof-sheets.
BARKHAM RECTORY,
1891.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
JANUARY.
Dedication Festivals - New Year's Day - "Wassail" - Twelfth
Night - "King of the Bean" - St. Distaffs Day - Plough
Monday - Winter Games - Skating - Sword-dancing
CHAPTER II.
FEBRUARY.
Hunting - Candlemas Day - St. Blaize's Day - Shrove-tide -
Football - Battledore and Shuttlecock - Cock-throwing
CHAPTER III.
MARCH.
Archery - Lent - "Mothering" Sunday - Palm Sunday -
"Shere" Thursday - Watching the Sepulchre
CHAPTER IV.
APRIL.
Easter Customs - Pace Eggs - Handball in Churches - Sports confined
to special localities - Stoolball and Barley-brake - Water
Tournament: - Quintain - Chester Sports - Hock-tide
CHAPTER V.
MAY.
May-day Festivities - May-pole - Morris-dancers - The Book of
Sports - Bowling - Beating the Bounds - George Herbert's description
of a Country Parson
CHAPTER VI.
JUNE.
Whitsuntide Sports - Church-ales - Church-house - Quarter-staff -
Whistling and Jingling Matches - St. John's Eve - Wrestling
CHAPTER VII.
JULY.
Cricket - Club-ball - Trap-ball - Golf - Pall-mall - Tennis - Rush-bearing
CHAPTER VIII.
AUGUST.
Lammas Day - St. Roch's Day - Harvest Home - "Ten-pounding"
- Sheep-shearing - "Wakes" - Fairs
CHAPTER IX.
SEPTEMBER.
Hawking - Michaelmas - Bull and Bear-baiting
CHAPTER X.
OCTOBER.
Tournaments - "Mysteries" - "Moralities" - Pageants
CHAPTER XI.
NOVEMBER.
All-hallow Eve - "Soul Cakes" - Diving for Apples - The Fifth
of November - Martinmas - "Demands Joyous " - Indoor Games
CHAPTER XII.
DECEMBER.
St. Nicholas' Day - The Boy Bishop - Christmas Eve - Christmas
Customs - Mummers - "Lord of Misrule" - Conclusion
INDEX
CHAPTER I.
JANUARY.
"Come then, come then, and let us bring
Unto our pretty Twelfth-Tide King,
Each one his several offering."
HERRICK'S _Star Song_.
Dedication Festivals - New Year's Day - "Wassail" - Twelfth
Night - "King of the Bean" - St. Distaff's Day - Plough
Monday - Winter Games - Skating - Sword-dancing.
In the old life of rural England few things are more interesting
than the ancient sports and pastimes, the strange superstitions, and
curious customs which existed in the times of our forefathers. We
remember that our land once rejoiced in the name of "Merry England,"
and perhaps feel some regret that many of the outward signs of
happiness have passed away from us, and that in striving to become a
great and prosperous nation, we have ceased to be a genial,
contented, and happy one. In these days new manners are ever pushing
out the old. The restlessness of modern life has invaded the
peaceful retirement of our villages, and railway trains and cheap
excursions have killed the old games and simple amusements which
delighted our ancestors in days of yore. The old traditions of the
country-side are forgotten, and poor imitations of town manners have
taken their place. Old social customs which added such diversity to
the lives of the rustics two centuries ago have died out. Very few
of the old village games and sports have survived. The village
green, the source of so much innocent happiness, is no more; and
with it has disappeared much of that innocent and light-hearted
cheerfulness which brightened the hours of labour, and refreshed the
spirit of the toiling rustic, when his daily task was done. Times
have changed, and we have changed with them. We could not now revive
many of the customs and diversions in which our fathers took
delight. Serious and grave men no longer take pleasure in the
playthings which pleased them when they were children; and our
nation has become grave and serious, and likes not the simple joys
which diversified the lives of our forefathers, and made England
"merry."
Is it possible that we cannot restore some of these time-honoured
customs? The sun shines as brightly now as ever it did on a May-day
festival; the Christmas fire glows as in olden days. Let us try to
revive the spirit which animated their festivals. Let us endeavour
to realize how our village forefathers used to enjoy themselves, how
they used to spend their holidays, and to picture to ourselves the
scenes of social intercourse which once took place in our own
hamlets. Every season of the year had its holiday customs and quaint
manner of observance, some of them confined to particular counties,
but many of them universally observed.
In the volume, recently published, which treated of the story and
the antiquities of "Our English Villages," I pointed out that the
Church was the centre of the life of the old village - not only of
its religious life, but also of its secular every-day life. This is
true also with regard to the amusements of the people. The festival
of the saint, to whom the parish church was dedicated, was
celebrated with much rejoicing. The annual fair was held on that
day, when, after their business was ended, friends and neighbours
met together and took part in some of the sports and pastimes which
I shall try to describe. The other holidays of the year were
generally regulated by the Church's calendar, the great
festivals - Christmas, Easter, Ascension Day, Whit Sunday - -being all
duly observed. I propose to record in these pages the principal
sports, pastimes, and customs which our forefathers delighted in
during each month of the year, the accounts of which are not only
amusing, but add to our historical knowledge, and help us to realize
something of the old village life of rural England.
We will begin with New Year's Day[1]. It was an ancient Saxon custom
to begin the year by sending presents to each other. On New Year's
Eve the wassail bowl of spiced ale was carried round from house to
house by the village maidens, who sang songs and wished every one "A
Happy New Year." "Wassail" is an old Saxon word, meaning "Be in
health." Rowena, the daughter of the Saxon king Hengist, offered a
flowing bowl to the British king Vortigern, welcoming him with the
words, "Lloured King Wassheil." In Devonshire and Sussex it was the
custom to wassail the orchards; a troop of boys visited the
orchards, and, encircling the apple-trees, they sang the words -
"Stand fast, bear well top,
Pray God send us a howling crop;
Every twig, apples big;
Every bough, apples enow;
Hats full, caps full,
Full quarter-sacks full."
Then the boys shouted in chorus, and rapped the trees with their
sticks.
The custom of giving presents on New Year's Day is as old as the
time of the Romans, who attached superstitious importance to it, and
thought the gifts brought them a lucky year. Our Christian
forefathers retained the pleasant custom when its superstitious
origin was long forgotten. Fathers and mothers used to delight each
other and their little ones by their mutual gifts; the masters gave
presents to their servants, and with "march-paynes, tarts, and
custards great," they celebrated the advent of the new year. Oranges
stuck with cloves, or a fat capon, were some of the usual forms of
New Year's gifts.
The "bringing-in" of the new year is a time-honoured custom; which
duty is performed by the first person who enters the house after the
old year has expired. In the North of England this important person
must be a dark man, otherwise superstitious folk believe that
ill-luck would befall the household. In other parts of England a
light-complexioned man is considered a more favourable harbinger of
good fortune.
The Christmas holidays extended over twelve days, which bring us to
January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany. It is stated that "in the
days of King Alfred a law was made with regard to holidays, by
virtue of which the twelve days after the Nativity of our Saviour
were made festivals." Twelfth Day Eve was a great occasion among the
rustics of England, and many curious customs are connected with it.
In Herefordshire the farmers and servants used to meet together in
the evening and walk to a field of wheat. There they lighted twelve
small fires and one large one[2], and forming a circle round the
huge bonfire, they raised a shout, which was answered from all the
neighbouring fields and villages. At home the busy housewife was
preparing a hearty supper for the men. After supper they adjourned
to the ox-stalls, and the master stood in front of the finest of the
oxen and pledged him in a curious toast; the company followed his
example with all the other oxen, and then they returned to the house
and found all the doors locked, and admittance sternly refused until
they had sung some joyous songs.
In the south of Devonshire, on the eve of the Epiphany, the
best-bearing trees in the orchard were encircled by the farmer and
his labourers, who sang the following refrain -
"Here's to thee, old apple-tree,
Whence thou may'st bud, and whence thou may'st blow,
And whence thou may'st bear apples enow!
Hats full! caps full!
Bushel-bushel-sacks full,
And my pockets full too! Huzza!"
The returning company were not allowed to enter the house until some
one guessed what was on the spit, which savoury tit-bit was awarded
to the man who first named it.
The youths of the village during the holidays had plenty of sport,
outdoor and indoor, which kept out the cold by wholesome exercise
and recreative games. Many a hard battle was fought with snowballs,
or with bat-and-ball on the ice; the barns were the scenes of many a
wrestling match or exciting game at skittles; and in the evenings
they played such romping games as blind-man's-buff, hunt the
slipper, and others of a similar character. While the company sat
round the yule-log blazing on the hearth, eating mince-pies, or plum
porridge, and quaffing a bowl of well-spiced elder wine, the mummers
would enter, decked out in ribands and strange dresses, execute
their strange antics, and perform their curious play. So the wintry
days passed until Twelfth Night, with its pleasing associations and
mirthful customs.
Twelfth Night was a very popular festival, when honour was done to
the memory of the Three Wise Men from the East, who were called the
Three Kings. The election of kings and queens by beans was a very
ancient custom. The farmer invited his friends and labourers to
supper, and a huge plumcake was brought in, containing a bean and a
pea. The man who received the piece of cake containing the bean was
called the King of the Bean, and received the honour of the company;
and the pea conferred a like privilege on the lady who drew the
favoured lot. The rest of the visitors assumed the rank of ministers
of state or maids of honour. The festival was generally held in a
large barn decorated with evergreens, and a large bough of mistletoe
was not forgotten, which was often the source of much merriment.
When the ceremony began, some one repeated the lines -
"Now, now the mirth comes
With the cake full of plums,
When Bean is King of the Sport here.
Beside, you must know,
The Pea also
Must revel as Queen of the Court here."
Then the cake was cut and distributed amid much laughter and merry
shouts. The holders of the bean and pea were hailed as king and
queen for the night, the band struck up some time-honoured melody,
and a country dance followed which was ever carried on with much
spirit. The king exercised his royal prerogative by choosing
partners for the women, and the queen performed a like office for
the men; and so they merrily played their parts till the hours grew
late.
But the holidays were nearly over, and the time for resuming work
had arrived. However, neither the women nor the men seemed to be in
any hurry to begin. The day after Twelfth Day was humorously called
St. Distaft's[3] Day, which was devoted to "partly work and partly
play." Herrick, the recorder of many social customs, tells us that
the ploughmen used to set on fire the flax which the maids used for
spinning, and received pails of water on their heads for their
mischief. The following Monday was called Plough Monday, when the
labourers used to draw a plough decked with ribbons round the
parish, and receive presents of money, favouring the spectators with
sword-dancing and mumming. The rude procession of men, clad in clean
smock-frocks, headed by the renowned "Bessy," who sang and rattled
the money-box, accompanied by a strangely-dressed character called
the Fool, attired in skins of various animals and having a long
tail, threw life into the dreary scenery of winter, as the
gaily-decked plough was drawn along the quiet country lanes from one
village to another. The origin of Plough Monday dates back to
pre-Reformation times, when societies of ploughmen called guilds
used to keep lights burning upon the shrine of some saint, to invoke
a blessing on their labour. The Reformation put out the lights, but
it could not extinguish the festival.
In the long winter evenings the country folk amused themselves
around their winter's fireside by telling old romantic stories of
errant knights and fairies, goblins, witches, and the rest; or by
reciting
"Some merry fit
Of Mayde Marran, or els of Robin Hood."
In the Tudor times there were plenty of winter games for those who
could play them, amongst which we may mention chess, cards, dice,
shovel-board, and many others.
And when the ponds and rivers were frozen, as early as the twelfth
century the merry skaters used to glide over the smooth ice. Their
skates were of a very primitive construction, and consisted of the
leg-bones of animals tied under their feet by means of thongs.
Neither were the skaters quite equal to cutting "threes" and
"eights" upon the ice; they could only push themselves along by
means of a pole with an iron spike at the end. But they used to
charge each other after the manner of knights in a tournament, and
use their poles for spears. An old writer says that "they pushed
themselves along with such speed that they seemed to fly like a bird
in the air, or as darts shot out from the engines of war." Some of
the less adventurous youths were content with sliding, or driving
each other forward on great pieces of ice. "Dancing with swords" was
a favourite form of amusement among the young men of Northern
nations, and in those parts of England where the Norsemen and Danes
settled, this graceful gymnastic custom long lingered.
[Illustration: DANCING ON THE VILLAGE GREEN.]
The old country dances which used to delight our fathers seem to be
vanishing. I have not seen for many years the village rustics
"crossing hands" and going "down the middle," and tripping merrily
to the tune of a fiddle; but perhaps they do so still.
In olden days the city maidens of London were often "dancing and
tripping till moonlight" in the open air; and later on we read that
on holidays, after evening prayer, while the youths exercised their
wasters and bucklers, the maidens, "one of them playing on a
timbrel, in sight of their masters and dames, used to dance for
garlands hanged athwart the streets." Stow, the recorder of this
custom, wisely adds, "which open pastimes in my youth, being now
suppressed, worser practices within doors are to be feared." In some
parts of England they still trip it gaily in the moonlight. A
clergyman in Gloucestershire tried to establish a cricket club in
his parish, but his efforts were all in vain; the young men
preferred to dance together on the village green, and the more manly
diversion had no charms for them. Dancing was never absent from our
ancestors' festivities, and round the merry May-pole
"Where the jocund swains
Dance with the maidens to the bagpipe strains;"
or in the festal hall, adorned with evergreens and mistletoe, with
tripping feet they passed the hours "till envious night commands
them to be gone."
CHAPTER II.
FEBRUARY.
"Down with rosemary and bayes,
Down with the mistleto,
Instead of holly, now up-raise
The greener box, for show."
"The holly hitherto did sway;
Let box now domineere,
Untill the dancing Easter-day,
Or Easter's eve appeare."
Hunting - Candlemas Day - St. Blaize's Day - Shrove-tide -
Football - Battledore and Shuttlecock - Cock-throwing.
The fox-hounds often meet in our village during this cheerless
month, and I am reminded by the red coats of the huntsmen, and by
the sound of the cheerful horn, of the sportsmen of ancient days,
who chased the wolf, hart, wild boar, and buck among these same
woods and dales of England. All hearts love to hear the merry sound
of the huntsman's horn, except perhaps that of the hunted fox or
stag. The love of hunting seems ingrained in every Englishman, and
whenever the horsemen appear in sight, or the "music" of the hounds
is heard in the distance, the spade is laid aside, the ploughman
leaves his team, the coachman his stables, the gardener his
greenhouses, books are closed, and every one rushes away to see the
sport. The squire, the farmers, and every one who by hook or by
crook can procure a mount, join in the merry chase, for as an old
poet sings -
"The hunt is up, the hunt is up,
Sing merrily we, the hunt is up;
The birds they sing,
The deer they fling:
Hey, nony, nony-no:
The hounds they cry,
The hunters they fly,
Hey trolilo, trolilo,
The hunt is up."
We English folks come of a very sporting family. The ancient Britons
were expert hunters, and lived chiefly on the prey which they
killed. Our Saxon forefathers loved the chase, and in some very old
Saxon pictures illustrating the occupations of each month we see the
lord, attended by his huntsmen, chasing the wild boars in the woods
and forests. The Saxon king, Edgar, imposed a tribute of wolves'
heads, and Athelstan ordered the payment of fines in hawks and
strong-scented dogs. Edward the Confessor, too, who scorned worldly
amusements, used to take "delight in following a pack of swift dogs,
and in cheering them with his voice." The illustration is taken from
an old illumination which adorned an ancient MS., and represents
some Saxons engaged in unearthing a fox.
[Illustration: HUNTING IN SAXON TIMES (from an ancient MS.).]
When the Normans came to England great changes were made, and
hunting - the favourite sport of the Conqueror - was promoted with a
total disregard of the welfare of the people. Whole villages and
churches were pulled down in order to enlarge the royal forests, and
any one who was rash enough to kill the king's deer would lose his
life or his eyesight. It was not until the reign of Henry III. that
this law was altered. William the Conqueror, who forbade the killing
of deer and of boars, and who "loved the tall stags as though he
were their father," greatly enlarged the New Forest, in Hampshire.
Henry I. built a huge stone wall, seven miles in circumference,
round his favourite park of Woodstock, near Oxford; and if any one
wanted a favour from King John, a grant of privileges, or a new
charter, he would have to pay for it in horses, hawks, or hounds.
The Norman lords were as tyrannical in preserving their game as
their king, and the people suffered greatly through the selfishness
of their rulers. There is a curious MS. in the British Museum,
called _The Craft of Hunting_, written by two followers of Edward
II., which gives instructions with regard to the game to be hunted,
the rules for blowing the horn, the dogs to be used in the chase,
and so on. It is too long to quote, but I may mention that the
animals to be hunted included the hare, hart, wolf, wild boar,
buck, doe, fox ("which oft hath hard grace"), the martin-cat,
roebuck, badger, polecat, and otter. Many of these animals have long
since disappeared through the clearing of the old forests, or been
exterminated on account of the mischief which they did. Our modern
hunters do not enjoy quite such a variety of sport.
Otter-hunting, now very rare, was once a favourite sport among
villagers who dwelt near a river. Isaac Walton, in his book called
_The Complete Angler_, thus describes the animated scene: "Look!
down at the bottom of the hill there, in the meadow, checkered with
water-lilies and lady-smocks; there you may see what work they make;
look! look! you may see all busy - men and dogs - dogs and men - all
busy." At last the otter is found. Then barked the dogs, and shouted
the men! Boatmen pursue the poor animal in the water. Horsemen dash
into the river. The otter dives, and strives to escape; but all in
vain her efforts, and she perishes by the teeth of the dogs or the
huntsmen's spears.
Foreigners are always astonished at our love of sport and hunting,
and our disregard of all danger in the pursuit of our favourite
amusement, and one of our visitors tells the following story: "When
the armies of Henry VIII. and Francis, King of France, were drawn up
against each other, a fox got up, which was immediately pursued by
the English. The 'varmint' ran straight for the French lines, but
the Englishmen would not cease from the chase; the Frenchmen opposed
them, and killed many of these adventurous gentlemen who for the
moment forgot their warfare in the charms of the chase."
But I must proceed to mention other February customs and sports.
Great importance was attached to the Feast of the Purification,
commonly called Candlemas Day (February 2nd), when consecrated
candles were distributed and carried about in procession. At the
Reformation this custom did not entirely disappear, for we find a
proclamation of Henry VIII., in 1539 A.D., which orders that "on
Candlemas Day it shall be declared that the bearing of candles is
done in memory of Christ the spiritual light, whom Simeon did
prophesy, as it is read in the Church on that day." Christmas
decorations were removed from the houses; the holly, rosemary, bay,
and mistletoe disappeared, to make room for sprigs of box, which
remained until Easter brought in the yew. Our ancestors were very
fond of bonfires, and on the 3rd of this month, St. Blaize's Day,[4]
the red flames might be seen darting up from every hilltop. But why
they should do this on that day is not evident, except that the good
Bishop's name sounded something like _blaze_, and perhaps that was
quite a sufficient reason! And why the day of St. Valentine should
have been selected for the drawing lots for sweethearts, and for the
sending affectionate greetings, is another mystery. St. Valentine
was a priest and martyr in Italy in the third century, and had
nothing to do with the popular commemoration of the day.
Now we come to the diversions of Shrove-tide,[5] which immediately
precedes the Lenten Fast. The Monday before Ash Wednesday was called
Collop Monday in the north, because slices of bacon (or collops)
were the recognized dish for dinner. But on Tuesday the chief
amusements began; the bells were rung, pancakes tossed with great
solemnity, and devoured with great satisfaction, as an old writer,
who did not approve of so much feasting, tells us -
"In every house are shouts and cries, and mirth and revel rout,
And dainty tables spread, and all beset with guests about."
He further describes this old English carnival, which must have
rivalled any that we read of on the Continent -
"Some run about the streets attired like monks, and some like
kings,
Accompanied with pomp, and guard, and other stately things.
Some like wild beasts do run abroad in skins that divers be
Arrayed, and eke with loathsome shapes, that dreadful are to
see,
They counterfeit both bears and wolves, and lions fierce in
sight,
And raging bulls; some play the cranes, with wings and stilts
upright."
But the great game for Shrove Tuesday was our time-honoured
football, which has survived so many of the ancient pastimes of our
land, and may be considered the oldest of all our English national
sports. The play might not be quite so scientific as that played by
our modern athletes, but, from the descriptions that have come down
to us, it was no less vigorous. "After dinner" (says an old writer)
"all the youths go into the fields to play at the ball. The ancient
and worthy men of the city come forth on horseback to see the sport
of the young men, and to take part of the pleasure in beholding
their agility." There are some exciting descriptions of old football
matches; and we read of some very fierce contests at Derby, which
was renowned for the game. In the seventeenth century it was played
in the streets of London, much to the annoyance of the inhabitants,
who had to protect their windows with hurdles and bushes. At
Bromfield, in Cumberland, the annual contest on Shrove Tuesday was
keenly fought. Sides having been chosen, the football was thrown
down in the churchyard, and the house of the captain of each side
was the goal. Sometimes the distance was two or three miles, and
each step was keenly disputed. He was a proud man at Bromfield who
succeeded in reaching the goal with the ball, which he received as
his guerdon. How the villagers used to talk over the exploits of the
day, and recount their triumphs of former years with quite as much
satisfaction as their ancestors enjoyed in relating their feats in
the border wars!
The Scots were famous formerly, as they now are, for prowess in the
game, and the account of the Shrove Tuesday match between the
married and single men at Scone, in Perthshire, reads very like a
description of a modern Rugby contest. At Inverness the women also
played, the married against the unmarried, when the former were
always victorious. King James I., who was a great patron of sports,
did not approve of his son Henry being a football player. He wrote
that a young man ought to have a "moderate practice of running,
leaping, wrestling, fencing, dancing, and playing at the caitch, or
tennis, bowls, archery, pall-mall, and riding; and in foul or stormy
weather, cards and backgammon, dice, chess, and billiards," but
football was too rough a game for his Majesty, and "meeter for
laming than making able." Stubbs also speaks of it as a "bloody and
murthering practice, rather than a fellowly sport or pastime." From
the descriptions of the old games, it seems to have been very
painful work for the shins, and there were no rules to prevent
hacking and tripping in those days.
Football has never been the spoilt child of English pastimes, but
has lived on in spite of royal proclamations and the protests of
peace-loving citizens who objected to the noise, rough play, and
other vagaries of the early votaries of the game. Edward II. and
succeeding monarchs regarded it as a "useless and idle sport," which
interfered with the practice of archery, and therefore ought to be
shunned by all loyal subjects. The violence displayed at the matches
is evident from the records which have come down to us, and from the
opinions of several writers who condemn it severely. Free fights,
broken limbs, and deaths often resulted from old football
encounters; and when the games took place in the streets, lines of
broken windows marked the progress of the players. "A bloody and
murdering practice," "a devilish pastime," involving "beastly fury
and extreme violence," the breaking of necks, arms, legs and
backs - these were some of the descriptions of the football of olden
times. The Puritans set their faces against it, and the sport
languished for a long period as a general pastime. In some places it
was still practised with unwonted vigour, but it was not until the
second half of the present century that any revival took place. But
football players have quickly made up for lost time; few villages do
not possess their club, and our young men are ready to "Try it out
at football by the shins," with quite as much readiness as the
players in the good old days, although the play is generally less
violent, and more scientific.
Hurling, too, was a fast and furious game, very similar to our game
of hockey, and played with sticks and a ball. Two neighbouring
parishes used to compete, and the object was to drive the ball from
some central spot to one, or other, village. The contest was keen
and exciting; a ball was driven backwards and forwards, over hills,
dales, hedges, and ditches, through bushes, briars, mires, plashes,
and rivers, until at length the wished-for goal was gained.
Battledore and shuttlecock were favourite games for the girls, which
they played singing quaint rhymes -
"Great A, little A;
This is pancake day!"
and the men also indulged in tip-cat, or billet.
There is one other custom, of a most barbarous and cruel
description, which was practised on Shrove Tuesday by our
forefathers, and which happily has perished,[6] and that was
throwing at cocks or hens with sticks. The poor bird was tied by the
leg, and its tormentors stood twenty-two yards distant and had three
throws each for twopence, winning the bird if they could knock it
down. The cock was trained beforehand to avoid the sticks, so as to
win more money for its brutal master. Well might a learned
foreigner remark, "The English eat a certain cake on Shrove Tuesday,
upon which they immediately run mad, and kill their poor cocks."
Cock-fighting was a favourite amusement on Shrove Tuesday, as well
as at other times. This shameful and barbarous practice was
continued until the eighteenth century; some of our kings took
delight in it, and in the old grammar schools in the North of
England it was sanctioned by the masters, who received from their
scholars a small tax called "cock-fight dues." Happily, with
bull-baiting, bear-baiting, dog-fighting, and the like, this cruel
and brutal pastime has ceased to exist. If we have lost some of the
simple joys and cheerful light-heartedness of our forefathers, we
have also happily lost some of their cruel disregard for the
sufferings of animals, and abandoned such barbarous amusements as I
have tried to describe. But the old sports of England were not all
like these; the archery, running, leaping, wrestling, football, and
other games in which our ancestors delighted, made the young men of
England a manly and a sturdy race, and our nation mainly owes its
greatness to the courage, manliness, and daring of her sons.
But Ash Wednesday has dawned, and all is still in town and village.
The Shrove-tide feast is ended, and the days of fasting and of
prayer have hushed the sounds of merriment and song.
CHAPTER III.
MARCH.
"And now a solemn fast we keep,
When earth wakes from her winter sleep."
"And he was clad in cote and hode of grene;
A shefe of pecocke arrowes bryght and shene
Under his belt he bare ful thriftely,
Well could he dresse his tackle yomanly;
His arrowes drouped not with fethers lowe,
And in hande he bare a myghty bowe."
Archery - Lent - "Mothering" Sunday - Palm Sunday -
"Shere" Thursday - Watching the Sepulchre.
Of all the sports and pastimes of old England, archery was the most
renowned, and many a hard-fought victory has been gained through
the skill which our English archers acquired in the use of their
famous bows. "Alas, alas for Scotland when English arrows fly!" was
the sad lament of many a Highland clan, and Frenchmen often learnt
to their cost the force of our bowmen's arms. The accounts of the
fights of Creçy and Poitiers tell of the prowess of our archers; and
the skill which they acquired by practising at the butts at home has
gained many a victory. Archery was so useful in war that several
royal proclamations were issued to encourage the sport, and in many
parishes there were fields set apart for the men to practise.
Although the sport has died out as a popular pastime, the old name,
the butts, remains in many a town and village, recording the spot
where our forefathers acquired their famous skill. The name is still
retained in the neighbouring town of Reading, and in some old
records I find that in 1549 a certain "Will'm Watlynton received
xxxvi_s_. for making of the butts;" and there are several items of
charges in other years for repairing and renewing the same.
[Illustration: TWO ARCHERS WEARING ARMOR.]
Edward III. ordered "that every one strong in body, at leisure on
holidays, should use in their recreation bows and arrows, and learn
and exercise the art of shooting, forsaking such vain plays as
throwing stones, handball, football, bandyball, or cock-fighting,
which have no profit in them." Edward IV. ordered every Englishman,
of whatever rank, to have a bow his own height always ready for use,
and to instruct his children in the art. In every township the butts
were ordered to be set up, and the people were required to shoot
"up and down" every Sunday and feast-day, under penalty of one
halfpenny.
The sport began to decline in the sixteenth century, in spite of
royal proclamations and occasional revivals. Henry VIII. forbade the
use of the cross-bow, lest it should interfere with the practice of
the more ancient weapon, and many old writers lament over the decay
of this famous pastime of old England, which, as Bishop Latimer
stated in one of his sermons, "is a goodly art, a wholesome kind of
exercise, and much commended as physic."
The Finsbury archers had, in 1594, no less than one hundred and
sixty-four targets in Finsbury Fields, set up on pillars with
curious devices over them; but four years later Stow laments that
"by reason of closing in of common grounds, our archers, for want of
room to shoot abroad, creep into ordinary dicing-houses and
bowling-alleys near home."
The famous Robin Hood, who lived in the reign of Richard I., was the
king of archers. The exploits of this renowned outlaw and his merry
men form the subject of many old ballads and romances, and the old
oaks in Sherwood Forest could tell the tale of many an exciting
chase after the king's deer, and of many a luckless traveller who
had to pay dearly for the hospitality of Robin Hood and Little John.
The ballads narrate that they could shoot an arrow a measured mile,
but this is a flight of imagination which we can hardly follow!
"But he was an archer true and good,
And people called him Robin Hood;
Such archers as he and his men
Will England never see again."
Another ballad relates the prowess of William of Cloudslee, who
scorned to shoot at an ordinary target, and cutting a hazel rod
from a tree, he shot at it from twenty score paces, cleaving the rod
in two.
[Illustration: CROSS-BOW SHOOTING AT THE BUTTS (from MS. dated 1496).]
[Illustration: AN ARCHER.]
Like William Tell of great renown, our English archer could split an
apple placed on his son's head at the distance of six score paces.
In time of war the archers were armed with a body-armour, the arms
being left free. They had a long bow made of yew, a sheaf of arrows
winged with gray goose-feathers, a sword, and small shield. Such was
the appearance of the men who struck such terror among the knights
and chivalry of France, and won many victories for England before
the days of muskets and rifles.
We are now in the season of Lent, and our towns and villages were
very still and quiet during these weeks. But there was an old custom
on Refreshment[7] or Mid-Lent Sunday for people to visit their
mother-church and make offerings on the altar. Hence probably arose
the practice of "mothering," or going to visit parents on that day,
and taking presents to them. Herrick alludes to this pleasant custom
in the following lines -
"I'll to thee a simnell bring,
'Gainst thou go'st a mothering;
So that when she blesseth thee,
Half that blessing thou'lt give me."
Many a mother's heart would rejoice to welcome to the old village
home once again some fond youth or maiden who had gone to seek their
fortunes in the town, and many happy recollections would long linger
of "Mothering" Sunday. The cakes alluded to in the above verse,
which children presented to their parents on these occasions, were
called Simnells. In some parts of England - in Lancashire,
Shropshire, and Herefordshire - these cakes are still eaten on
Mid-Lent Sunday. Possibly they had some religious signification, for
the Saxons were in habit of eating consecrated cakes at their
festivals. The name Simnell is derived from a Latin word signifying
fine flour, and not from the mythical persons, Simon and Nell, who
are popularly supposed to have invented the cake. Hot cross buns are
a relic of an ancient rite of the Saxons, who ate cakes in honour of
the goddess of spring, and the early Christian missionaries strove
to banish the heathen ideas associated with the cakes (which latter
the people would not abandon) by putting a cross upon them.
In memory of our Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when the
people took branches of palm-trees and scattered them in the way, on
Palm Sunday our ancestors went in procession through the town or
village, bearing branches of willow, yew, or box (as there were no
palms growing in this country), which were subsequently carried to
the church and offered at the altar. This custom lingered on after
the Reformation, and until recent times the practice of going
a-palming, or gathering branches of willow, on the Saturday before
Palm Sunday, has continued. Sometimes in mediæval times a wooden
figure representing our Saviour riding upon an ass was drawn along
by the crowds in the procession, and the people scattered their
willow branches before the figure as it passed.
Thursday before Easter Day was called Shere, or Maundy, Thursday.
The first name is derived from the ancient custom of _shering_ the